The Chicago area’s mass transit agencies are doing a poor job of serving the commuting needs of the region -- portions of which are “transit deserts” — while planning efforts are haphazard, a new report says.

Even major suburban job centers, such as the bustling I-90 Corridor from O’Hare to Schaumburg; the crowded Oak Brook area and booming Naperville, “are not well-served by transit,” and most jobs in the region can’t be reached in a 90-minute commute, the analysis found.

The region will fail to meet a goal of doubling transit use by 2040, so efforts “must be refocused with customer satisfaction as the primary objective,” said a draft report prepared for the Northeastern Illinois Transit Task Force.

Gov. Pat Quinn created the 15-member task force last August to suggest reforms for the transit system after controversy erupted over Metra’s ouster of its CEO.

The latest findings — from a working group studying transit system performance — echo the task force’s October conclusion — that the structure of the transit system has led to “duplication, competition, uncoordinated service and a lack of accountability.”

The five-page draft report provides few details to back up its assertions, although officials say it is a work in progress.

The report recommends creation of a specific plan to boost ridership; better use of existing transportation and housing resources; and development of “performance measures,” toward reaching those goals.

Much of the data for the report was supplied by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a Chicago-based urban research group. Kathryn Tholin, the center’s CEO, is also the chairwoman of the system performance working group.

Tholin would not comment on the report Wednesday, although she outlined it before a meeting of the task force last week.

The system performance panel is one of four groups that make up the task force. The others are studying transit system “governance,” finance and ethics.

The draft report found that the transit system’s planning and operations “are fragmented, making it extremely difficult to effectively manage a regional approach to transit and development.”

While planning efforts are being made at the RTA and the agencies it oversees — the CTA, Metra and Pace — “there is little coordination” among them, the draft said. There is no comprehensive set of goals, and the current structure “creates operational inefficiency, redundant service and gaps in service,” it said.

The RTA, the CTA and Metra had no response to the report Wednesday. Pace would not comment on specific findings, but said it was committed to improvement.

“Without a greater investment in transit, it will be extremely difficult for the transit agencies to address” some of the problems, Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot said.

While the draft report recommends a “new, broader mandate” for the region’s transit system, it does not specifically call for abolishing the RTA, as some have urged.

An influential Chicago civic group, Metropolis Strategies, launched a campaign in 2012 to scrap the RTA, saying the 40-year-old agency is broken and should be merged with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Metropolis Strategies’ president, George Ranney Jr., is co-chair of the task force, along with Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider.

In 2007, Illinois’ auditor general issued a scathing critique of the RTA, calling for its overhaul.

The task force’s final report is scheduled for completion March 31. Quinn originally wanted the work done by Jan. 31, but the group requested more time, according to IDOT.

While the new report says “significant portions” of the region have no transit access and are “transit deserts,” it does not identify any specific locations.

Others, however, have used the term to describe several areas, including the far South Side of Chicago and western McHenry County.

Tiffany Hightower, executive director of the Developing Communities Project, said the Roseland, Pullman, West Pullman and Altgeld Gardens neighborhoods are underserved by mass transit. Some residents walk miles to get to a bus, she said.

One solution is to extend the CTA’s Red Line from 95thSt. to 130th St., she said.

“We’ve had community residents fighting for the Red Line for as long as 30 years,” Hightower said.

Jack Schaffer, a Metra board member representing McHenry County, said areas like Huntley and Marengo have boomed in recent years but have seen little growth in mass transit. The main problem, Schaffer said, is insufficient funding to maintain the existing transit system, much less add new service.

“We’re aware there are areas where we can do a better job, but first, show me the money,” Schaffer said.